Preparing for the worst (VIDEO, GALLERY)

Armed with an M240B machine gun, Airman 1st Class Jorge Martinez guards the perimeter of a compound during a training exercise at the 96th Ground Combat Training Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base.

DEVON RAVINE / Daily News

By LAUREN SAGE REINLIE / Daily News

Published: Monday, December 2, 2013 at 05:25 PM.

EGLIN AFB — At the base’s entry, Air Force security officers stopped a vehicle before allowing it through the concrete barricades.

Suddenly there was a loud boom, and the area filled with smoke. The car had exploded. Turbaned men armed with guns emerged from the woods and stormed the perimeter. Security officers opened fire. Others came with medical supplies to treat the injured.

No one was actually harmed, though. The simulated attack was designed by the 96th Ground Combat Training Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base to train security officers in the weeks before they deployed.

“Because at your home station you might be working as a regular cop, this is a refresher combat course before deployment,” said Capt. Griffin Sowinski, the squadron’s operations officer. “We want them to be better prepared in case they actually encounter a situation over there.”

About 1,500 security forces personnel from across the country attend the 17-day course at Eglin as their last stop before they deploy.

On the squadron’s sprawling training grounds, the team creates a simulated air base with three nearby villages. On the last three days of the training, the security officers man the base day and night.

Meanwhile, the squadron barrages the base with simulated attacks — from car bombings to gunfire — using pyrotechnics, simulated munitions, fog machines, embedded speakers and a cast of actors.

The squadron tries to make the training as realistic as possible. Creating the conditions of an attack — the disorienting smoke, the sound of rapid gunfire — can help students prepare to respond in a real situation, said Tech. Sgt. Sean McDermott, the squadron’s flight chief.

After the recent car bomb, the base defense operations center nestled in the woods nearby was bustling. A loud whistle followed by a boom indicated a mortar attack about 100 meters away.

Senior Airman Ryan Vogel, 24, worked the radios.

“I’m telling everyone where to go so everyone is not running in different directions,” he said.

Vogel is stationed with the 99th Security Forces Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas. He was preparing to deploy to an undisclosed Persian Gulf state.

EGLIN AFB — At the base’s entry, Air Force security officers stopped a vehicle before allowing it through the concrete barricades.

Suddenly there was a loud boom, and the area filled with smoke. The car had exploded. Turbaned men armed with guns emerged from the woods and stormed the perimeter. Security officers opened fire. Others came with medical supplies to treat the injured.

No one was actually harmed, though. The simulated attack was designed by the 96th Ground Combat Training Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base to train security officers in the weeks before they deployed.

“Because at your home station you might be working as a regular cop, this is a refresher combat course before deployment,” said Capt. Griffin Sowinski, the squadron’s operations officer. “We want them to be better prepared in case they actually encounter a situation over there.”

About 1,500 security forces personnel from across the country attend the 17-day course at Eglin as their last stop before they deploy.

On the squadron’s sprawling training grounds, the team creates a simulated air base with three nearby villages. On the last three days of the training, the security officers man the base day and night.

Meanwhile, the squadron barrages the base with simulated attacks — from car bombings to gunfire — using pyrotechnics, simulated munitions, fog machines, embedded speakers and a cast of actors.

The squadron tries to make the training as realistic as possible. Creating the conditions of an attack — the disorienting smoke, the sound of rapid gunfire — can help students prepare to respond in a real situation, said Tech. Sgt. Sean McDermott, the squadron’s flight chief.

After the recent car bomb, the base defense operations center nestled in the woods nearby was bustling. A loud whistle followed by a boom indicated a mortar attack about 100 meters away.

Senior Airman Ryan Vogel, 24, worked the radios.

“I’m telling everyone where to go so everyone is not running in different directions,” he said.

Vogel is stationed with the 99th Security Forces Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas. He was preparing to deploy to an undisclosed Persian Gulf state.